New York Times Bestselling Author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days

Lynne Olson

Lynne Olson

Lynne Olson is a New York Times bestselling author of seven books of history, most of which deal in some way with World War II and Britain’s crucial role in that conflict. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called Olson “our era’s foremost chronicler of World War II politics and diplomacy.”

Her latest book, Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War, will be published by Random House on April 25, 2017.

Olson’s previous two books, Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941, and Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour, were New York Times bestsellers. Those Angry Days was named by the New York Times and Kirkus as one of the best books of 2013. Citizens of London was selected by the American Library Association as one of its top nonfiction books in 2010. It was also included on Amazon’s list of best books of the year.

Born in Hawaii, Olson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arizona. Before becoming a full-time author, she worked as a journalist for ten years, first with the Associated Press as a national feature writer in New York, a foreign correspondent in AP’s Moscow bureau, and a political reporter in Washington. She left the AP to join the Washington bureau of the Baltimore Sun, where she covered national politics and eventually the White House.

Olson lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Stanley Cloud, with whom she co-authored two books.